From The Washington Post- Honda’s January-March profit jumped 61 percent as the Japanese automaker sold more cars and motorcycles in a turnaround from a disaster-battered 2011. It forecast record global sales of 4.3 million vehicles for this fiscal year.

Honda Motor Co., which makes the Accord sedan, Fit subcompact and Asimo robot, reported net profit of 71.5 billion yen ($882.7 million) for the fiscal fourth quarter, up from 44.5 billion yen a year earlier.

The results underline a recovery at all Japanese automakers from the sales plunge that hit last year after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disrupted the supply of auto parts from northeastern Japan.

Tokyo-based Honda’s quarterly sales improved 8.7 percent to 2.41 trillion yen ($29.7 billion), mainly because of rising sales in Japan and North America.

It achieved record quarterly sales of motorcycles at 3.5 million bikes, up nearly 18 percent from a year earlier, with demand especially robust in Asia and South America.

Demand for its auto models was also strong, including the Odyssey minivan, the remodeled CR-V sport-utility vehicle as well as hybrid models.

Read the rest of the article from The Washington Post here

Come visit Kelly Honda in Lynn at 540 Lynnway (Route 1A) on the Lynnway and see how We Make it Easy to get into our new 2012 Honda Accord today!

From PRWeb.com – There are fewer vehicles on the side of the highway due to engine failures or maintenance issues. Honda will own it’s fair share of responsibility for this. When considering depreciation, insurance, maintenance & repairs, Honda maintains the lowest cost of ownership over all competitors for every model in its lineup. In addition to its record for long lasting vehicles, Honda continues to receive accolades year after year.

The 2012 Odyssey was awarded Motorweek Driver’s Choice Award for Best Minivan. Car and Driver awarded the Accord as a top pick a record 26 times.

“Honda makes a great product. Consumers want to know their vehicles will last for years to come,” said Phillipe Ackerman, GM of Honda Mall of Georgia. “They’re a great value. You can drive them forever,” he said

Ackerman, along with Honda dealers nationwide have plenty to celebrate as they enter the last week of The Really Big Sales Event. “Businesses has been great,” said Ackerman. “Honda has given us extremely low price points and competitive interest rates, and our customers are taking advantage of it.”

Honda’s longevity combined with the incentives during the Really Big Sales Event has pushed Honda sales forward for 2nd quarter. Through April 29th, consumers can pay zero down, and zero first month’s payment on select vehicles. Visit http://reallybigsalesevent.com/ to learn more about the Really Big Sales Event as it enters its final week.

Come visit Kelly Honda in Lynn at 540 Lynnway (Route 1A) on the Lynnway and see how We Make it Easy during our Really Big Sales Event going on right now!

This month at Kelly Honda is the Really Big Sales Event! Right now we’re offering great deals on our 2012 Honda Accord and 2012 Honda Civic models.

You can lease either of Honda‘s Civic or Accord LX models for only $199/mo. with absolutely zero cash down. What’s even better, you have four great choices!

You pick between the family-lovable 4-Door Sedan, or the sleek, sharp-looking 2-Door Coupe. And it’s still only $199 because it’s a really big deal here at Kelly Honda.

How can you miss out with either the 34 MPG/Hgwy 2012 Accord or the 39 MPG/Hgwy 2012 Civic?

But you have to hurry to take advantage of these great deals, because they’re going on right now only during our Really Big Sales Event at Kelly Honda. And these great deals won’t last for very long, so don’t miss them while they’re here!

Visit us today at Kelly Honda, located at 540 Lynnway (Route 1A) in Lynn, MA 01905.

Need directions? Click here for step-by-step directions to our dealership.

From Autoblog.com’s Jonathon Ramsey - This is the 2013 Honda Crosstour Concept, along with its “more capable-looking styling” that’s been revealed today at the New York Auto Show.

Honda is re-aiming the Crosstour at “active consumers,” so those new capable looks come down to foglights shrouded in embossed polygons, and the soft-roader rugged-esque front bumper, and dark trim skirting the bodywork. There’s also a new grille that helps clean up the front end. The rear gets stressed horizontals to emphasize the concept’s width, but this is the only photo Honda has released, so we’re not sure yet what other changes (if any) are in store for the 2012 model. The new face looks modestly better than the original, but based one what we see here, we’re unclear how this updated look will improve the Crosstour’s frigid sales.

Inside, Honda says the new production Crosstour will be available with an eight-inch display and LaneWatch blind-spot detection along with updated trim and keyless ignition. As before, motivation will come courtesy of a 192-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder or a 3.5-liter V6 that shifts through a six-speed paddleshift transmission (Honda promises that the latter has been reengineered for more power). Don’t be fooled by the 19-inch wheels, though – the production version set to go on sale this Fall will get 18-inchers.

Visit Kelly Honda located at 540 Lynnway (Route 1A) in Lynn, and be sure to ask about the 2013 Honda Crosstour during your visit! How’s that for Making it Easy!

From CMN.com- Sickweather is changing the way people fight sickness by asking one simple question: “How are you feeling today?”

The company’s site crowdsources the status updates posted to the site that mention various sicknesses like flu or chickenpox, then maps the results.

The company sprang from a stomach virus George Dodge had in the summer of 2010. Dodge, now Sickweather’s CEO, began crowdsourcing his friends and family on Facebook to see if any of them had the same symptoms.

He said he wanted to create that same scenario for other people on a much bigger scale – but without giving anyone a stomach virus. In January of 2011, Dodge founded Sickweather, along with COO James Sajor and CTO Michael Belt and launched the site in November.

Users select their sickness from a beta list and the site’s system will then crawl the user output to pinpoint where breakouts of the specific sickness is located. For example: If you’re from Houston and you select “flu”, any reports will be mapped.

The company is planning to upgrade its beta list to a text list within the next week, allowing users to post any symptom or sickness.

He said the traffic for the site increased 800% between October and November during its closed beta testing and received more than 100,000 impressions and more than 30,000 unique visitors from mid-November to mid-February.

Dodge was a member of the team that created the first Crime Map, a map visualization of the U.S. Census crime rate date for Crime.com. The stomach virus prompted the idea, but Dodge’s previous experience in crowdsourcing and data collecting gave him the knowledge to help create the company’s patent-pending algorithm tracking system.

“Our system evolved from my background at Crime.com,” he said. “We just displayed data on the map.”

He said the company will soon be able to display the data much like a weather map does allowing users to “watch a sickness moving.”

There are other sites available that track sicknesses and outbreaks, such as Google Flu Trends and Health Map, but Dodge said there are several technological differences in comparison to his company.

“We’re the only site using social data to present info in real time,” he said. “Some others say theirs is in real time, but they are based on the news of the illness. Ours is consumer facing and we want it to be socially integrated.”

The object of the site is to inform everyday people about the everyday outbreak of sicknesses, no matter how minute they may seem.

“I don’t recommend that people use our site over the advice of a doctor,” he said, “but it’s like checking the forecast rather than looking outside for yourself. We just want to add additional insight.”

He said the company has received a number of messages from users via Twitter, Facebook and email thanking them for the assistance they received from the site. One compliment came from a family whose child came home from school with eye irritation and “gunk” in his eye. The family searched Sickweather and was told that “pink eye was going around.” He said the data also reported a whooping cough outbreak in Algonquin, Ill. weeks before the local news reported it.

Dodge considers these reports to be case studies, albeit somewhat incidental. Even Sajor’s reason for joining Sickweather is considered a case study.

“His draw to the idea was he was taking care of his mother who was going through chemo-therapy and he was trying to avoid getting sick,” Dodge said. “It really clicked with his cause because he was actively trying not to get sick.”

He said the benefits have yet to be realized for what Sickweather can and will soon be able to do.

“It really is about connecting with people,” he said. “That’s what is going to engage people and not just statistic info. You can really interact with it. We are going to have some really cool features to let people take advantage of for themselves and for their family.”

The company has been negotiating with investors since the beginning of this year and plans to have $1 million raised by the end of its first round in May.

From Autoblog.com - Honda may be out to improve the fuel economy of its powertrains by throwing extra gears into the transmission. Automobile Magazine reports the Japanese automaker is currently working to use a new nine-speed gearbox developed by ZF in its products as soon as 2014. If you’re keeping track, this is the same transmission set to debut in a host of Chrysler products, including the replacement for the Jeep Liberty.

Despite the additional gears, ZF says the transmission is surprisingly compact, thanks in part to the fact that it uses planetary gears in place of a traditional design. Called the 9HP, the German transmission can be used in either front- or all-wheel drive applications and handle up to 354 pound-feet of torque.

All told, ZF claims the 9HP can improve a vehicle’s fuel economy as much as 10 to 16 percent. Given the torque capacities and relatively small size, the transmission could show up in nearly everything Honda makes, but odds are the company will debut the gearbox in models like the Odyssey and Pilot as well as the Acura MDX and TL.

Cars.com invited USA Today, a handful of media judges, and Erik Rose and Robyn Gerry-Rose of Culver City, California to go on a three-day comparison test of subcompact cars in Southern California to see which subcompact would come out on top.

And the results are in.

The 2012 Honda Fit bested six other subcompact vehicles in the shootout, being called “A triumph of cargo volume, versatility and execution,” by executive editor for USA Today, Joe Wiesenfelder.

The competition’s restrictions were that all cars eligible would have to be subcompacts that seat four, have four doors and automatic transmission, under $16,000, and are EPA-rated 35 mpg or better on the highway. The cars were scored on qualities like first impressions inside and out, comfort and ergonomics, driving quality, value and gas mileage. In the end, the Fit came out the winner.

Editors agreed that the Fit was “unbelievably roomy for the overall size,” while still quite fun to drive. “The Fit handled the steep hills and curvy roads,” said Brian Robinson, producer for Motorweek.

In a field where spots 2-5 were separated by a close 77 points, the 2012 Honda Fit took first place by 42 points, clearly making it the leader in the subcompact field.

Wiesenfelder sums up the Fit by saying “From the first moment, the Fit begged to be driven hard.”

So if you want to take the 2012 Honda Fit for a test drive, be sure to visit Kelly Honda in Lynn and try out the 2012 Fit for yourself. How’s that for Making it Easy at Kelly Honda!

The Car Brand Index, by online research firm Spectrum, is an an online and social media analysis of 41 car brands, designed to assess brand visibility, chatter and engagement levels on Facebook and Twitter.

From The Salem News’ Ethan Forman- DANVERS — Danvers-based Kelly Automotive Group is ramping up expansion plans along Route 114 in both Danvers and Peabody.

Kelly is mulling the creation of a two-story dealership out of the vacant former Borders Books and Music store on Andover Street in Peabody. The Danvers native and the company’s president, Brian Kelly, acquired the property in December.

Kelly’s plans also include the construction of a new Volkswagen dealership at 72 Andover St. in Danvers, where he presently operates a Fiat dealership. This plan is coming before the Danvers Planning Board on Tuesday.

It is possible Kelly may move his Fiat dealership either to his Jeep-Chrysler dealership on Route 1 in Lynnfield, Kelly said. It is also possible the former bookstore at 151 Andover St. could become the new home to the tiny, stylish Italian import.

In December, Kelly, as trustee of 151 Andover Street Realty Trust, bought the 1.57-acre Borders site, with its nearly 24,400 square-foot-building, for $1, according to the deed.

The property was conveyed to Kelly by Select Sites of the North Shore LLC, and is subject to the mortgage, which has a more than $5 million unpaid balance, along with assignments of certain leases and rents. The property is assessed at nearly $3.4 million, according to city records.

“I bought the note the from the bank,” said Kelly, who added he managed to acquire the property in an online auction.

The Borders building was built in 1994, according to city records. It closed last year after the nation’s second-largest bookstore company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Kelly is now doing exploratory work to see if the existing building can be turned into a car dealership. Kelly is trying to find out if the second floor can bear the weight of vehicles in what would become a glassed-in showroom. The building’s ground floor is set lower than the roadway, so the second floor commands a view of Route 114 and the Northshore Mall across the street.

“If I can do that, I will figure out if I will put a dealership there or not,” said Kelly, who has also fielded interest from retailers looking to set up shop there.

This is not Kelly’s first attempt at setting up a dealership in Tanner City along Route 114. In 2010, Kelly acquired the former North Shore Lincoln Mercury at 1 Cross St., which is adjacent to the Northshore Mall.

Kelly considers this a prime location for a dealership, but he has waited to open something there, in part because of the slow economy, and in part because of the site, which is on a slope and needs expensive work.

“I want to take my time and do something right,” Kelly said.

Kelly said he has not figured out where he might move his Danvers Fiat dealership, though he said it is doing well, and there are new models coming soon. The location at 72 Andover St. was always viewed as temporary.

Kelly plans to build a nearly 32,200-square-foot, single-story Volkswagen dealership, which will have a front wall made of glass and aluminum, according to plans by BKA Architects. The Fiat building will be demolished to make way for the new building. The 4.7-acre site has been the home of auto dealerships for many years. A back building on the site is partially located in Peabody.

The new dealership will have a showroom, a small mezzanine, a service department, a parts storage area and offices. It will meet all of the town’s zoning setback requirements, which are not being met by the present buildings, according to the application filed by Danvers attorney Nancy McCann.

The back building will get a face-lift and be used for vehicle storage. Danvers Senior Planner Kate Day said the Volkswagen project is one of the larger commercial projects to come before the town in recent years, next to the construction of a much larger indoor soccer facility farther west on 114.

The Volkswagen dealership will take a year to build, Kelly said. It operates now across the Lowe’s access road from his Infiniti dealership, also on 114.

When asked about what is driving the construction of the new dealership, Kelly said “factories are doing better, and they are pushing facility upgrades.”

Within the next three years, Kelly plans to upgrade his Infiniti dealership, as well.

Auto retailers have been increasing their presence in and around Route 114 in recent years, in addition to Kelly’s dealerships.

Ira Motor Group has Porsche, Lexus, Mazda, Audi, Scion, Subaru and Toyota dealerships at various locations along Andover Street in Danvers and Peabody. Ira bought the former Jimmy’s Allenhurst function facility in Danvers and had that building demolished as part of its expansion plans.

Herb Chambers is planning to enlarge its Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership and is mulling a stand-alone Cadillac dealership at its Chevrolet dealership across the street.

Acura of Peabody, which is part of the Lyon-Waugh Auto Group, has a new location along Route 114 in Peabody. Acura’s former home is now a Lyon-Waugh Mini Cooper dealership. Lyon-Waugh also operates a large BMW dealership in Peabody, next door to its Mini dealership.

Not far away but within sight of Route 114, Village Automotive Group operates Hyundai and Volvo dealerships on Commonwealth Avenue, across from the Liberty Tree Mall. Further down Sylvan Street in Danvers sits Danvers Motor Co.’s Ford dealership. Finally, a Michaud Mitsubishi dealership sits next door to where Kelly plans to build his new Volkswagen store.

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by email at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter @DanverSalemNews.